Family dies holding hands, praying

[_Hoops]

Ask and you shall receive.

That is MUCH better! I always smiled at your avatar.

[_Hoops]

I rest my case.

What case? You haven't asserted a case at all.

[_Sethbag]

Isn't it odd?
People living two thousand years ago, in a completely different social, intellectual and religious setting leave us texts that contain notions that seem to a 21st century person like Tobin to be 'absurd and false'.
So those people must really have meant something else.
I am happy for readers of this board to make up their minds whether this way of reading ancient texts is likely to be a reliable one. I think my posts say all I need to say on this topic to Tobin.

That is fine Chap. But I think it is a silly conclusion to state that we are incapable of understanding scripture due to our modern times. I think we are actually better situated to understand scipture because of the resources we have available to us to truly appreciate the context and language involved. [emphasis added]

Better is a comparative. It requires something else to be compared against. So, we're better suited to understand scripture compared to whom? You mean better than the people who wrote the scriptures, and those to whom they were written in the first place?

I agree with Chap. It's absurd that you conclude, on the basis of evidence contrary to what was plainly written by the 1st century Christians, that they must have meant something else.

Tobin said something else a couple of posts back, about how one can learn to properly interpret what the Bible authors really meant if one knows and understands properly the Gospel. That is really, really rich. Think about it for a few minutes.

[_harmony]

Harmony - you clearly can't think the family was wrong to pray to be saved. But what on earth do you think they should have done? Even if death is not the end, were they not still acting reasonably in asking their deity to save them from death?

Or is your contention that it didn't matter if they did die, even when they didn't want to?

I don't tell people what they "should" do, chap. You know that. They did what they thought was good and proper. Good for them.

One thing we can all count on, chap: we're all going to die. Some of us will go quick, some will linger in great pain, some of us will be young, some will be old... but we will all die. No one's God can change that. So to me, it's not that they prayed together irrationally, or futilely, or without cause, or to a being that doesn't exist. To me, what's important is that the last thing they did was done together.

Your mileage may vary.

[_Chap]

Harmony - you clearly can't think the family was wrong to pray to be saved. But what on earth do you think they should have done? Even if death is not the end, were they not still acting reasonably in asking their deity to save them from death?

Or is your contention that it didn't matter if they did die, even when they didn't want to?

I don't tell people what they "should" do, chap. You know that. They did what they thought was good and proper. Good for them.

One thing we can all count on, chap: we're all going to die. Some of us will go quick, some will linger in great pain, some of us will be young, some will be old... but we will all die. No one's God can change that. So to me, it's not that they prayed together irrationally, or futilely, or without cause, or to a being that doesn't exist. To me, what's important is that the last thing they did was done together.

Your mileage may vary.

That seems a perfectly reasonable position. Your previous remark about death not being the end does not seem to be part of the position you state here.

For an atheist, the last job one tries do in life might be to try to set an example that will help others, in their turn, to die without fear.

[_harmony]

That seems a perfectly reasonable position. Your previous remark about death not being the end does not seem to be part of the position you state here.

For an atheist, the last job one tries do in life might be to try to set an example that will help others, in their turn, to die without fear.

When did I say death wasn't the end?

what I said was: [quote]Death is only a bad thing, if you think this life is all there is.[quote]

[_Kevin Graham]

Hoops and wade need to date.

[_Brackite]

Death is only a bad thing, if you think this life is all there is.

Amen!!!

[_Hoops]

[

If harmony cares to reply, I shall be interested. No chatbots need apply, however.

If you're referring to me, I'll note that you studiously avoided the one question I put to you.

[_Yoda]

Meanwhile, as the LDS Church continues to proclaim that the idea of being in heaven with your family is an idea unique to Mormonism:

The 20 or so extended family members who surrounded Angel Babcock this weekend decided that revival wasn't possible for her, according to Jefferson County, Kentucky, Deputy Coroner Bob Jones.

"Angel has been reunited with her parents," said Jack Brough, her grandfather, in a statement released through the hospital.

I have never thought that the LDS Church was unique in this belief. Most Evangelicals I have associated with believe that all who are faithful will live together with God as part of one giant family.

Where the LDS Church appears to be unique is in the idea that marriage continues beyond this life.